Of Black Roses, White Masks and Red Strings - Chapter 2
Title: Of Black Roses, White Masks and Red Strings
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Sungmin, others
Genre: romance, mystery?
Rating: Varies by chapter (PG 13)
Summary: A prince that's lost his bethrothed, a teenager who took up her soul. 2 roads that separated met once more, but do they necessarily intertwine?
Sungmin opened his eyes in an unfamiliar location.
It seemed as if he was in the middle of a long-forgotten courtyard. Vines hung from the trees and the rose bushes grew unattended, and the grass was shriveled and dry. That is, except for the spot where he was standing; it seemed as if the grass was taking a small amount of Sungmin's life force to keep itself alive.
Sungmin stared at the patch of grass under his feet in stock amazement before realizing he wasn't wearing the clothes that he slept with. Not to mention he was barefoot. Instead of the pale pink night-gown that he normally wears, he bore a pure white, short-sleeved dress shirt and black shorts that stopped right above his knees.
The boy didn't know where he was or what he was doing in such place. He looked around him, trying to figure out where he might be when his eyes landed on a figure leaning against a tree at a close distance. Upon closer inspection, Sungmin realized he's seen him somewhere before, but his name slipped Sungmin's tongue. "Who are you? Where am I?"
The figure stepped closer to the bare-footed boy, donning a soft smile. He wore clothing that was similar to Sungmin's, except his pants were long and he held a black rose on his right hand. "Sungmin," he whispered.
"Who are you?" Sungmin inquired. "How do you know my name?"
The figure smiled and handed Sungmin the black rose. "You know who I am, my love."
Gingerly, Sungmin took the rose. Moments after he did, a seemingly-forgotten name rolled off his tongue. "Kyuhyun," he whispered. The name didn't just sound familiar, it felt familiar. It seemed as if he's said that name multitude of times. Except Sungmin didn't remember if any of the people he knew had that name. "Who are you?" he asked once more, tone softer.
Kyuhyun smiled. "I'm merely a prince who's lost his bride," he replied. "The real question is, who are you?"
"I'm Lee Sungmin," he answered confidently, "A normal student attending a normal high school, and I'm currently having strange dreams."
"Are you sure, Sungmin?" Kyuhyun asked. "Sometimes things aren't as they seem. You know that I know. And I know you know that."
A part of Sungmin wanted to scream yes, tell this Kyuhyun figure that he's nothing more than a normal person and believe that he's nothing more than that.
But the other part of him couldn't help but wonder who he really was and why he was afraid of knowing his true nature, if it even exists.
The next moments went by as a blur as Sungmin watched the scene before him change. The courtyard dissipated as it turned into a room with a girl in it. Sungmin merely stared at how the girl, clad in a white wedding gown, disappeared before his eyes and leaving only a black rose on the white sheets of the bed. The next moment, Sungmin realized that he was that girl as he looked at himself - herself - in the mirror. Then he felt a sharp pain on his chest and everything turned into black.
Sungmin woke up drenched in cold sweat with his chest heaving. He remembered every single detail of his dream; it was as if he was watching a horror movie, but then he was part of it. It was so vivid, as if he experienced the whole thing himself. He had goose bumps allover his arms and legs, and when he felt a blow of cold air, he glanced over to the double doors that led to the balcony.
They were open once more, and Sungmin swore he locked it before he slept.
~*~
He couldn't focus the whole day. Sungmin's mind kept on wandering off to his dream. May 13 the calendar says. It's been 3 days since he first met Kyuhyun, now that he could recall it. Why he had the dreams, he had no clue.
The careless mistakes that Lee Sungmin made that day were surprising the staff at school. The normally perfect, star-student was making slip-ups here and there, be it forgetting an equation that the teachers know Sungmin's memorized to forgetting to bring the correct supplies to class. Sungmin couldn't even put his whole mind during martial arts practice, something that everyone knows that Sungmin's had always gave it all. They let it slide, though; Sungmin rarely messes up, and they all blamed it on the day. It was Friday the 13th, after all.
But that didn't help calm Sungmin's nerves. He's never a believer of bad omens or such, but from the way his day went plus the dream he had nearly made him wish he hadn't gotten out of bed that morning.
The rest of the day went by in a daze. Grandma was concerned at how Sungmin was acting and asked if everything was okay. Sungmin nearly broke to tears as he recalled his horrible day, but he didn't tell her about the dream that started it all. Grandma comforted her boy, letting him pour his heart out before and after dinner. She made Sungmin some tea and instructed him to go to bed early and told him to sleep to his heart's content.
Sungmin watched through half-lidded eyes as Grandma closed and locked the double doors that led to the balcony.
~*~
Sungmin opened his eyes to the same landscape as before; the abandoned courtyard with vines and dead grass, save for the ones under his toes.
"Kyuhyun!" he screamed. "Kyuhyun, where are you!!"
Sungmin saw the owner of the name leaning against the same tree, but instead of him approaching, Sungmin was catapulted back to a series of events.
When he opened his eyes, he was looking down to a female child's body. He looked up and saw young Kyuhyun running towards him and he automatically started picking up his feet. Sungmin was disoriented - he tried to think as to where he was and what he was doing, but the only thing that managed to squeeze itself into his mind at that moment was the thrill of being chased and the excitement of child's play.
He stopped running for some reason, and young Kyuhyun crashed into him from his back, sending both children sprawling on the grass. Fits of giggles and laughter rang through the crisp twilight; Sungmin was surprised his voice sounded like a girl's.
When young Kyuhyun asked him his name, instead of saying Sungmin, a different name slipped his tongue.
"Taehee."
The moment the name was uttered, Sungmin was wrenched away from that to another scene. It's the same place as where he and young Kyuhyun were chasing each other, but Sungmin knew it was fast-forwarded a couple of years.
At that moment, he (as Taehee) and young Kyuhyun (now a well-mannered, older prince) were taking a walk hand in hand, talking while doing so. Kyuhyun stopped the both of them, and, to Sungmin's surprise, got down on one knee and reached in his pocket and pulled out an engagement ring.
While Sungmin didn't quite understand what was going on, Taehee did. Sungmin could only gape as he - or rather, Taehee's mind and body - launched itself on Kyuhyun, taking the ring and giving him a kiss.
The moment the kiss was broken, Sungmin was torn away from the scene and was back to the courtyard. He fell forwards and would've landed face-first on the dried grass if not for the prince who caught him in time. Kyuhyun pulled Sungmin gently up to his feet, his arms under his to steady the smaller man. "Sungmin," he whispered, catching his attention, "Do you understand?"
"I'm not Taehee," Sungmin mumbled, still in a daze. "I can't be."
"You are, Sungmin. At least, you were," Kyuhyun said. "Taehee's soul was reborn as you."
"No," Sungmin shook his head. "I can't be. I'm Lee Sungmin."
"You are Lee Sungmin," Kyuhyun patiently replied. "You were Lee Taehee."
Sungmin took a step back from the prince. "But how is that possible? I don't know you. I've never met you before. As far as I know, you've never met me," Sungmin said, "Me as in Lee Sungmin. Not me as in your Lee Taehee."
"Yes, that's true."
"Then how!?" Sungmin inquired, stepping away from Kyuhyun. "How do you know I'm your Taehee? How is it me? Why am I having these dreams? Why now!?"
Sungmin tried to make a dash for it, hoping that maybe the prince wouldn't catch him, but Kyuhyun caught his wrist and pulled him in. "Sungmin, please," he said, "Look at me."
Reluctantly, Sungmin looked up to meet Kyuhyun's eyes. Something within Sungmin stirred and somehow, he calmed himself down. "Why?" he whispered.
Kyuhyun's forehead creased in concern; Sungmin looked like a broken, confused doll, but Kyuhyun knew with all his heart that if he didn't get his bride back, things would turn out for the worst, and not just for him. "Sungmin, I'm sorry," Kyuhyun muttered. "I don't have the answer to all of your questions."
"Then tell me what you know!" Sungmin exclaimed. "These past three to four days, I've had nothing but dreams about you or your past shared with Taehee's. Kyuhyun, I don't want to have these dreams anymore. I don't know what they mean, and I'm scared to find out what. Please, just let me go."
"I'm sorry, Sungmin, I can't," Kyuhyun replied. "Not another time."
"Then at least make the dreams stop. I can't focus on anything, based on the chaotic day I had. If this continues, I don't know if I'll stay sane."
"I can't stop that either," Kyuhyun said, receiving a desperate look from the other. "I'm sorry, but I don't control some things that happen, okay?"
Sungmin was in the verge of crying. He wrenched himself away from the prince, trying to hide the tears that were threatening to fall. "This is the worst dream I've ever had," he muttered, more to himself than to anyone, before turning back to Kyuhyun. "Tell me how to wake myself up. I can't do this right now."
Kyuhyun's expression turned hard. "You wake up when I tell you to."
"Oh, so now I don't have any freedom over my own body!?" Sungmin all but shrieked. "Just what kind of dream is this!!??" The tears that he had tried to hide started falling. "Why are you being like this, Kyuhyun? Let me and my body be. I don't want any of this mess."
The prince gritted his teeth. He never thought that Sungmin would be this hard to get through. But the sight of his tears nearly made something within Kyuhyun snap; it was as if he was watching Taehee cry. In the end, he pulled Sungmin into a hug.
Sungmin didn't want any of it. He tried his hardest to get away from the prince, but Kyuhyun held strong. All he could now was cry brokenly into the prince's arms, feeling so lost and confused.
After a while, Sungmin's sobs quieted down, but Kyuhyun kept on holding him. He didn't let go when Sungmin stopped crying. After a while, he pulled back and looked at the other's puffy eyes. "I'm sorry, Sungmin, but this is the best I can do."
Sungmin didn't know what in the world the prince was talking about, but when he looked up, Kyuhyun's lips were covering his in a soft and unsure kiss. A light gasp escaped Sungmin's mouth, but the prince stayed and didn't break contact. Sungmin wanted to pull away, but something about that kiss felt familiar. It felt like that moment wasn't the first time Kyuhyun's kissed Sungmin.
Braving a move, Sungmin whimpered and licked Kyuhyun's bottom lip. Just like that, things turned more passionate. Kyuhyun tilted his head and gently nipped on Sungmin's lower lip. Sungmin marveled at how their lips seemed to fit like a set of puzzle.
The prince was the one that broke the contact. A light blush crept up Sungmin's cheeks as he kept his head bowed down. Kyuhyun smiled at the sudden change of attitude, but he couldn't hold himself back any longer. He rested his head on Sungmin's shoulder, lips ghosting against the pale expanse of skin. Sungmin's hands flew up to grip on Kyuhyun's arms as a gasp escaped his lips when Kyuhyun licked the skin.
"This might hurt, Sungmin" Kyuhyun whispered before he went back to Sungmin's neck, nipping the skin and gently sucking it.
Sungmin didn't know what 'this' meant. He thought about it for a moment, but all rational thoughts flew out of his mind when something punctured his neck. Sungmin screamed in pain and clutched to Kyuhyun like he was his lifeline.
It wasn't all that far from the truth; Kyuhyun was his lifeline. The prince was a vampire, and he was drinking Sungmin's blood.
Sungmin woke up in pain and drenched in sweat. The left side of his neck hurt. It felt like someone took burning red iron and traced the veins and arteries there. A cold draft told him that the balcony doors were open once more. Sungmin sighed as he locked the doors once more.
"At least Kyuhyun… or the figment of my imagination… let me wake up," he mumbled to himself, closing his eyes as he rubbed his pained neck. His eyes flew open moments later when he realized his neck felt a bit too warm and strangely sticky. When Sungmin took a look of the palm of his hands under the dim moonlight, it took all of his willpower not to scream. He ran to the bathroom and turned on the lights, mortified, amazed, and scared at what he saw.
He found two puncture wounds, both looked recent but already healed. If that didn't confirm his fears, his bloodied collar and neck did.
Kyuhyun's real, as real as can be.
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Sungmin, others
Genre: romance, mystery?
Rating: Varies by chapter (PG 13)
Summary: A prince that's lost his bethrothed, a teenager who took up her soul. 2 roads that separated met once more, but do they necessarily intertwine?
Sungmin opened his eyes in an unfamiliar location.
It seemed as if he was in the middle of a long-forgotten courtyard. Vines hung from the trees and the rose bushes grew unattended, and the grass was shriveled and dry. That is, except for the spot where he was standing; it seemed as if the grass was taking a small amount of Sungmin's life force to keep itself alive.
Sungmin stared at the patch of grass under his feet in stock amazement before realizing he wasn't wearing the clothes that he slept with. Not to mention he was barefoot. Instead of the pale pink night-gown that he normally wears, he bore a pure white, short-sleeved dress shirt and black shorts that stopped right above his knees.
The boy didn't know where he was or what he was doing in such place. He looked around him, trying to figure out where he might be when his eyes landed on a figure leaning against a tree at a close distance. Upon closer inspection, Sungmin realized he's seen him somewhere before, but his name slipped Sungmin's tongue. "Who are you? Where am I?"
The figure stepped closer to the bare-footed boy, donning a soft smile. He wore clothing that was similar to Sungmin's, except his pants were long and he held a black rose on his right hand. "Sungmin," he whispered.
"Who are you?" Sungmin inquired. "How do you know my name?"
The figure smiled and handed Sungmin the black rose. "You know who I am, my love."
Gingerly, Sungmin took the rose. Moments after he did, a seemingly-forgotten name rolled off his tongue. "Kyuhyun," he whispered. The name didn't just sound familiar, it felt familiar. It seemed as if he's said that name multitude of times. Except Sungmin didn't remember if any of the people he knew had that name. "Who are you?" he asked once more, tone softer.
Kyuhyun smiled. "I'm merely a prince who's lost his bride," he replied. "The real question is, who are you?"
"I'm Lee Sungmin," he answered confidently, "A normal student attending a normal high school, and I'm currently having strange dreams."
"Are you sure, Sungmin?" Kyuhyun asked. "Sometimes things aren't as they seem. You know that I know. And I know you know that."
A part of Sungmin wanted to scream yes, tell this Kyuhyun figure that he's nothing more than a normal person and believe that he's nothing more than that.
But the other part of him couldn't help but wonder who he really was and why he was afraid of knowing his true nature, if it even exists.
The next moments went by as a blur as Sungmin watched the scene before him change. The courtyard dissipated as it turned into a room with a girl in it. Sungmin merely stared at how the girl, clad in a white wedding gown, disappeared before his eyes and leaving only a black rose on the white sheets of the bed. The next moment, Sungmin realized that he was that girl as he looked at himself - herself - in the mirror. Then he felt a sharp pain on his chest and everything turned into black.
Sungmin woke up drenched in cold sweat with his chest heaving. He remembered every single detail of his dream; it was as if he was watching a horror movie, but then he was part of it. It was so vivid, as if he experienced the whole thing himself. He had goose bumps allover his arms and legs, and when he felt a blow of cold air, he glanced over to the double doors that led to the balcony.
They were open once more, and Sungmin swore he locked it before he slept.
~*~
He couldn't focus the whole day. Sungmin's mind kept on wandering off to his dream. May 13 the calendar says. It's been 3 days since he first met Kyuhyun, now that he could recall it. Why he had the dreams, he had no clue.
The careless mistakes that Lee Sungmin made that day were surprising the staff at school. The normally perfect, star-student was making slip-ups here and there, be it forgetting an equation that the teachers know Sungmin's memorized to forgetting to bring the correct supplies to class. Sungmin couldn't even put his whole mind during martial arts practice, something that everyone knows that Sungmin's had always gave it all. They let it slide, though; Sungmin rarely messes up, and they all blamed it on the day. It was Friday the 13th, after all.
But that didn't help calm Sungmin's nerves. He's never a believer of bad omens or such, but from the way his day went plus the dream he had nearly made him wish he hadn't gotten out of bed that morning.
The rest of the day went by in a daze. Grandma was concerned at how Sungmin was acting and asked if everything was okay. Sungmin nearly broke to tears as he recalled his horrible day, but he didn't tell her about the dream that started it all. Grandma comforted her boy, letting him pour his heart out before and after dinner. She made Sungmin some tea and instructed him to go to bed early and told him to sleep to his heart's content.
Sungmin watched through half-lidded eyes as Grandma closed and locked the double doors that led to the balcony.
~*~
Sungmin opened his eyes to the same landscape as before; the abandoned courtyard with vines and dead grass, save for the ones under his toes.
"Kyuhyun!" he screamed. "Kyuhyun, where are you!!"
Sungmin saw the owner of the name leaning against the same tree, but instead of him approaching, Sungmin was catapulted back to a series of events.
When he opened his eyes, he was looking down to a female child's body. He looked up and saw young Kyuhyun running towards him and he automatically started picking up his feet. Sungmin was disoriented - he tried to think as to where he was and what he was doing, but the only thing that managed to squeeze itself into his mind at that moment was the thrill of being chased and the excitement of child's play.
He stopped running for some reason, and young Kyuhyun crashed into him from his back, sending both children sprawling on the grass. Fits of giggles and laughter rang through the crisp twilight; Sungmin was surprised his voice sounded like a girl's.
When young Kyuhyun asked him his name, instead of saying Sungmin, a different name slipped his tongue.
"Taehee."
The moment the name was uttered, Sungmin was wrenched away from that to another scene. It's the same place as where he and young Kyuhyun were chasing each other, but Sungmin knew it was fast-forwarded a couple of years.
At that moment, he (as Taehee) and young Kyuhyun (now a well-mannered, older prince) were taking a walk hand in hand, talking while doing so. Kyuhyun stopped the both of them, and, to Sungmin's surprise, got down on one knee and reached in his pocket and pulled out an engagement ring.
While Sungmin didn't quite understand what was going on, Taehee did. Sungmin could only gape as he - or rather, Taehee's mind and body - launched itself on Kyuhyun, taking the ring and giving him a kiss.
The moment the kiss was broken, Sungmin was torn away from the scene and was back to the courtyard. He fell forwards and would've landed face-first on the dried grass if not for the prince who caught him in time. Kyuhyun pulled Sungmin gently up to his feet, his arms under his to steady the smaller man. "Sungmin," he whispered, catching his attention, "Do you understand?"
"I'm not Taehee," Sungmin mumbled, still in a daze. "I can't be."
"You are, Sungmin. At least, you were," Kyuhyun said. "Taehee's soul was reborn as you."
"No," Sungmin shook his head. "I can't be. I'm Lee Sungmin."
"You are Lee Sungmin," Kyuhyun patiently replied. "You were Lee Taehee."
Sungmin took a step back from the prince. "But how is that possible? I don't know you. I've never met you before. As far as I know, you've never met me," Sungmin said, "Me as in Lee Sungmin. Not me as in your Lee Taehee."
"Yes, that's true."
"Then how!?" Sungmin inquired, stepping away from Kyuhyun. "How do you know I'm your Taehee? How is it me? Why am I having these dreams? Why now!?"
Sungmin tried to make a dash for it, hoping that maybe the prince wouldn't catch him, but Kyuhyun caught his wrist and pulled him in. "Sungmin, please," he said, "Look at me."
Reluctantly, Sungmin looked up to meet Kyuhyun's eyes. Something within Sungmin stirred and somehow, he calmed himself down. "Why?" he whispered.
Kyuhyun's forehead creased in concern; Sungmin looked like a broken, confused doll, but Kyuhyun knew with all his heart that if he didn't get his bride back, things would turn out for the worst, and not just for him. "Sungmin, I'm sorry," Kyuhyun muttered. "I don't have the answer to all of your questions."
"Then tell me what you know!" Sungmin exclaimed. "These past three to four days, I've had nothing but dreams about you or your past shared with Taehee's. Kyuhyun, I don't want to have these dreams anymore. I don't know what they mean, and I'm scared to find out what. Please, just let me go."
"I'm sorry, Sungmin, I can't," Kyuhyun replied. "Not another time."
"Then at least make the dreams stop. I can't focus on anything, based on the chaotic day I had. If this continues, I don't know if I'll stay sane."
"I can't stop that either," Kyuhyun said, receiving a desperate look from the other. "I'm sorry, but I don't control some things that happen, okay?"
Sungmin was in the verge of crying. He wrenched himself away from the prince, trying to hide the tears that were threatening to fall. "This is the worst dream I've ever had," he muttered, more to himself than to anyone, before turning back to Kyuhyun. "Tell me how to wake myself up. I can't do this right now."
Kyuhyun's expression turned hard. "You wake up when I tell you to."
"Oh, so now I don't have any freedom over my own body!?" Sungmin all but shrieked. "Just what kind of dream is this!!??" The tears that he had tried to hide started falling. "Why are you being like this, Kyuhyun? Let me and my body be. I don't want any of this mess."
The prince gritted his teeth. He never thought that Sungmin would be this hard to get through. But the sight of his tears nearly made something within Kyuhyun snap; it was as if he was watching Taehee cry. In the end, he pulled Sungmin into a hug.
Sungmin didn't want any of it. He tried his hardest to get away from the prince, but Kyuhyun held strong. All he could now was cry brokenly into the prince's arms, feeling so lost and confused.
After a while, Sungmin's sobs quieted down, but Kyuhyun kept on holding him. He didn't let go when Sungmin stopped crying. After a while, he pulled back and looked at the other's puffy eyes. "I'm sorry, Sungmin, but this is the best I can do."
Sungmin didn't know what in the world the prince was talking about, but when he looked up, Kyuhyun's lips were covering his in a soft and unsure kiss. A light gasp escaped Sungmin's mouth, but the prince stayed and didn't break contact. Sungmin wanted to pull away, but something about that kiss felt familiar. It felt like that moment wasn't the first time Kyuhyun's kissed Sungmin.
Braving a move, Sungmin whimpered and licked Kyuhyun's bottom lip. Just like that, things turned more passionate. Kyuhyun tilted his head and gently nipped on Sungmin's lower lip. Sungmin marveled at how their lips seemed to fit like a set of puzzle.
The prince was the one that broke the contact. A light blush crept up Sungmin's cheeks as he kept his head bowed down. Kyuhyun smiled at the sudden change of attitude, but he couldn't hold himself back any longer. He rested his head on Sungmin's shoulder, lips ghosting against the pale expanse of skin. Sungmin's hands flew up to grip on Kyuhyun's arms as a gasp escaped his lips when Kyuhyun licked the skin.
"This might hurt, Sungmin" Kyuhyun whispered before he went back to Sungmin's neck, nipping the skin and gently sucking it.
Sungmin didn't know what 'this' meant. He thought about it for a moment, but all rational thoughts flew out of his mind when something punctured his neck. Sungmin screamed in pain and clutched to Kyuhyun like he was his lifeline.
It wasn't all that far from the truth; Kyuhyun was his lifeline. The prince was a vampire, and he was drinking Sungmin's blood.
Sungmin woke up in pain and drenched in sweat. The left side of his neck hurt. It felt like someone took burning red iron and traced the veins and arteries there. A cold draft told him that the balcony doors were open once more. Sungmin sighed as he locked the doors once more.
"At least Kyuhyun… or the figment of my imagination… let me wake up," he mumbled to himself, closing his eyes as he rubbed his pained neck. His eyes flew open moments later when he realized his neck felt a bit too warm and strangely sticky. When Sungmin took a look of the palm of his hands under the dim moonlight, it took all of his willpower not to scream. He ran to the bathroom and turned on the lights, mortified, amazed, and scared at what he saw.
He found two puncture wounds, both looked recent but already healed. If that didn't confirm his fears, his bloodied collar and neck did.
Kyuhyun's real, as real as can be.